


The Rule of Three

by CreatePeaceFromChaos



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adult Arcobaleno (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), BAMF Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Dying Will Flames (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Established Relationship, Gen, Humor, Immortal Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), M/M, Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreatePeaceFromChaos/pseuds/CreatePeaceFromChaos
Summary: Things always tended to come in threes, both good and bad. And Skull seems to be having a bad run of it today...It started with a cannon.
Relationships: Colonnello/Lal Mirch, Mammon | Viper/Verde, Skull/Fon/Reborn
Comments: 3
Kudos: 174





	The Rule of Three

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to have pairings, but they decided to make themselves known. Enjoy!

There was something to be said for Cloud Flames, Skull thought idly as he watched his ribcage repaired itself. Violet fire seared the wound closed, regenerated the destroyed muscles and nerves and bones and lung tissue. His Flames danced across his healed chest and repaired the leather of his suit, and, leaving him in the same shape he’d been before the cannon had blown a hole through him (almost literally, at that). Why a supposed replica cannon had been loaded, he didn’t know, but the ammunition had hit him directly in the chest and caved his ribs in, crushing his lungs and sternum. His skin had split open from the force.

It was just lucky it was him and not someone else, really.

“That hurt,” he muttered, shaking his head and pulling himself out of the rubble into which he had been thrown. It used to be a low wall, but now it was just a pile of stone. He stalked towards the cannon, a leonine grace to his loping stride which he rarely let show, as his Flames flared and enhanced his usually lithe muscles. His arms and thighs swelled in size, bulging against his leather motorbike gear, and he bared his teeth in a feral grin as he heard the terrified whimper from his prey.

He would show no mercy to the attempted assassin. He was a fuckin’ _Cloud_ ; those who riled a Cloud, even one as atypical as him, were either stupid or suicidal.

He was going to bet on ‘stupid’ for this one.

He left the would-be assassin alive – barely. He needed information, after all, and he wouldn’t be able to get that if the idiot was dead. It wasn’t like any assassination attempt on him would work, but he would still like to know who had put a hit out on him. He was one of the Arcobaleno, after all, even if he was the ‘weakest’ of the lot, so it didn’t sit right with him that none of them had heard about any contract for his death. Unless it was being kept secret and was for _all_ of their deaths…? Nah. They wouldn’t go for Skull first if that was the case… right?

“What happened to _you_?” Verde asked as Skull stalked through the doorway, still covered in the blood of his attempted killer.

“Got shot with a cannonball,” Skull chirped, and then hauled the critically wounded form of the ‘assassin’ up into the scientist’s line of sight. “This idiot did it. Want a new test subject?” Verde eyed the injured, unconscious man and then snorted.

“He would not be of much use to me in this state. Fon’s garden could use more fertiliser, though,” the Lightning added. Skull’s grin widened.

“Thanks!” he beamed, and carted his captive towards the back door.

Fon was kneeling by one of the garden beds, tending to one of his tea plants, when Skull came outside. The Storm glanced up, raised a single eyebrow, and then turned back to his plants.

“Verde said you could use some fertiliser,” Skull explained cheerily, dumping the dying man off to one side and going to the nearest stone bench. He lounged on it and watched as Fon hummed gently in acknowledgement, still doing something to the tea plant’s roots. Skull could identify all the plants in Fon’s garden, but he didn’t have a clue what the Storm was currently doing.

“My medicinal herbs are looking a little undernourished,” Fon agreed after a moment, finishing whatever he was doing and standing to approach Skull. His serene smile was still in place, as it always was, even as his dark eyes grew sharp and looked Skull over as if checking for injuries. Skull grinned, pushing up onto his feet once more so he could peck a kiss against Fon’s lips lightly. One corner of Fon’s mouth drew up further, his cheek dimpling briefly. “You are well?” Fon asked, and Skull felt his grin soften a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Took a cannonball to the chest, but I’ve had worse.” Fon hummed acknowledgement, though the corners of his eyes tightened just barely in what Skull knew to be concern. Skull kissed him again before he could voice his worry, just as brief as the first time. “The idiot responsible is gonna be your new fertiliser. Still haven’t found out who hired him, though.”

“Leave that to me, then,” Fon murmured, and traced a hand lightly across Skull’s cheek before he took a step back and turned to the still-unconscious idiot on the ground. “If I cannot get the information directly, then we shall speak to Viper.”

“You’re the best~” Skull bounced forward, planted another kiss on Fon’s mouth, and murmured, “Love you.”

“Do not let Reborn hear you say that,” Fon murmured in return, a pleased little curl to his smile. “And I love you too.”

“Reborn is Reborn,” Skull disagreed, grinning. He’d yet to reveal it, but he could sense Reborn coming a mile away, and so he knew the hitman was approaching him from behind on silent feet. “And he thinks you’re the best, too.”

“That, I cannot deny,” Reborn purred, pressing up behind Skull, and Skull faked a little jump of shock. Reborn nipped his earlobe, sharp and brief. “What happened to you, lackey?”

“Not a lackey anymore, senpai,” Skull protested, though it was more rote than anything else by this point. “And I got a cannonball to the chest. Any recent hits put out on me?” he asked before Reborn could do more than growl in disapproval at the casual mention of his injury.

“None that I’ve heard of.” Reborn paused, brushed his lips against the skin below Skull’s ear – which, rude, considering he wasn’t about to follow through – and then stepped past him to kiss Fon’s cheek and then move towards the house. “I’ll go find Viper.”

“Love you~!” Skull carolled after him, and Reborn waved a hand at him lazily, without turning around. Skull pouted. “Rude.” Fon laughed quietly.

“Go do what you need to do, Skull. I will let you know if I find any information.”

“Thanks,” Skull grinned, and then bounded off towards the garage after one more quick kiss.

Just as he reached the enormous barnlike building that they all used as a garage, there was a shout, a _boom_ , and then the doors were flying off their hinges and splintering apart – heading straight towards Skull. He had only a moment to process, and then there was a massive spike of wood through his recently-regenerated sternum.

“Ouch,” he whined, tugging the broken piece of door out and dropping it to then rub at his already-healed chest.

“Sorry, Skull, kora!” Colonello shouted from the garage, sounding at least a little remorseful. Skull looked towards him in time to see Lal Mirch – sooty and slightly singed – smack him over the back of the head.

“Idiot!” she barked at her lover, and then turned to Skull. “You alright, Skull?”

“I’m fine!” Skull assured her, crossing the rest of the distance to the garage and examining the mess inside. If not for Viper and Verde’s work to isolate each vehicle, he was pretty sure that all of the Arcobaleno’s vehicles would be in the same shape as whatever the two Rains had been working on. A twisted, smoking wreck of metal sat in one of the vehicle spaces. “Looks like you had fun.”

“It _was_ supposed to be a new weapons system for our Jeep, but _someone_ didn’t check the ammunition was blanks before we started up,” Lal said, glaring at Colonello.

“This is why you should leave that stuff to Verde or me~” Skull snickered when the two Rains turned their glares on him. “Gotta go finish my errands in town; do you two need anything?” he asked hastily, before they could decide to upgrade from glaring to hitting.

“Nah, kora, I’m good.” Colonello shook his head.

“Some more bruttiboni. Thanks,” Lal added. Skull nodded cheerily and headed for the car he usually used for similar errands. Hopefully he could get through the rest of the day without another injury.

He’d jinxed himself.

He was just heading back to the car, last of his purchases – the bruttiboni for Lal, the good stuff that was made fresh by a baker rather than store-bought – in a bag swinging from one hand, when he’d been shoulder-checked into an alleyway and held at knifepoint.

“Give me your valuables,” the attempted mugger hissed, glaring at Skull in a way that probably wouldn’t have intimidated him even before he got dragged into the Mafia. Skull sighed.

“You don’t want to do this,” he warned the young man. There was a faint tremor to the mugger’s hand, and Skull knew that he’d probably never had to follow through on his threat.

“Shut up and hand ‘em over!” the man insisted. Skull sighed again and took a step forward, intending to prove a point, but the would-be mugger at that point decided to jab Skull with the knife for emphasis.

And it was a really sharp knife, made of good steel, because it sliced through Skull’s leather and skin and flesh like though soft butter. The blade glanced off his ribs, scraping off bone, and the man froze with a tiny squeak. Skull looked down at his chest – knife now partially imbedded in it – and groaned.

“Aw, come on,” he whined. “This is the third time today!”

The would-be mugger fainted, and Skull tugged the sharp little blade free of his chest. He flipped it idly – hm, it had perfect balance, nice – and then stowed it into a reinforced pocket on his pants leg. The little wound was gone the instant the knife was removed, and Skull absently fixed the tear over his heart as he crouched beside the unconscious man – kid, really, he couldn’t be more than seventeen – who’d just accidentally stabbed him. He poked his cheek, pressing the still slightly chubby flesh into a divot, and the kid came around with a groan.

Skull grinned down at him, and the kid squeaked and passed out again. Skull rolled his eyes. Had _he_ been this bad when he was younger?

…actually, he didn’t want to know.

Skull grabbed a notepad and pen from one of his many pockets and scribbled a note, tucking it into the kid’s hand and patting his head lightly. Then he stood and wandered off, back towards his car.

He had family to return to.

-

_Five minutes later, the young man who had attempted to mug the stuntman came to once more. He blinked and groaned, lifting a hand to rub at his forehead, only to pause when he saw the piece of folded paper tucked into his palm. He opened it, and his eyes grew huge at the scrawl within._

**_Hey kid, nice try, but why don’t you try selling this instead of mugging people? – Skull de Mort._ **

_A second piece of paper had been tucked into the first, and when he opened it, he saw the distinctive, unable-to-be-replicated signature of the infamous stuntman, The Immortal Skull._

_He felt faint again – he’d just tried to steal from Skull de Mort!_

_He lost his battle with consciousness and fainted clean away again, note clutched tight in his palm._

-

Over dinner that night, Viper informed Skull that the disgraced Carcassa Famiglia had been the ones to put a hit out for him, and that they had been handled accordingly. Verde and Reborn looked quite smug at that, and Skull decided instantly that he did _not_ want to know. He almost felt bad for the Carcassa – he _would_ if they were decent people, but they weren’t, and so it was no loss.

Instead, he thanked Verde and Reborn cheerfully, and that was the end of the matter.

Much, much later, curled around Reborn’s back with an arm draped over him and Fon both to rest on the small of the Storm’s back, Skull nuzzled into the nape of Reborn’s neck and murmured a soft ‘thank you’ to his Sun lover. Reborn just pressed back against him slightly, arms tightening around the already-sleeping Fon, and no more words needed to be exchanged between them. Skull smiled, pressed a kiss to the skin below his mouth, and snuggled down to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this:


End file.
